Ken Borland

One of the key features to come out of the discussions around racism in cricket has been the acknowledgement that it has to be okay for stakeholders who feel discriminated against or marginalised to speak out. Without that freedom, the status quo merely continues and we won’t know that the system is broken until there is something akin to an explosion of anger.

And there are certainly a lot of angry people in the cricket community at the moment, many with good reason because the leadership of the game has failed them so thoroughly. Many people are thoroughly disgruntled by how mediocre the returns have been after millions of rand have been spent on transformation over more than 20 years.

It is not okay, however, for people to spread division, blatant lies or push agendas designed to further the interests of only a select few. Unfortunately many of those divisive voices have been given prominence in the last few weeks.

The troubles in South African cricket seem to have given birth to an extreme version of Africanism that threatens to shut everyone else out of the game.

We now have a situation where White members of CSA management, specifically acting CEO Jacques Faul, director of cricket Graeme Smith and head coach Mark Boucher, are being pilloried, not for anything they have or have not done, but simply because they are White. No matter how often they express their support for BLM or for transformation, some people simply cannot get past their skin colour.

The corollary of this is the perception that Black Africans should not be held accountable for their actions. Suddenly suspended CEO Thabang Moroe, who left the game in such crisis last December that Faul and Smith had to be parachuted in, is the darling of certain sections of the media, who are pushing for his return. The irony that they are supporting someone who nine months ago took away the accreditation of journalists who were critical of him is totally lost on them. Are they are in favour of media freedom or do they support someone who has also looked to destroy the players’ trade union – the South African Cricketers Association?

Convicted matchfixers Thami Tsolekile and Ethy Mbhalati have also been given platforms that are far too exalted for the manner in which they betrayed the game. Tsolekile in particular spouted forth on a well-known radio talk show – with very little counter-interrogation – on how the whole matchfixing investigation of the 2015 T20 competition targeted Black players. He and his host conveniently failed to mention that the entire process was presided over by Bernard Ngoepe, one of the country’s most respected judges. Are they saying he is racist? Sounds like the typical protestations of the criminally guilty to me.

Equally appallingly, Tsolekile accused and named two White players of being involved in matchfixing without a shred of evidence. Their rights have been trampled on and I expect them to go to the courts to protect their names. CSA have subsequently released a statement saying the one player was one of their star witnesses because he immediately reported a corrupt approach and the other was just a name bandied about by arch-conspirator Gulam Bodi in order to get other people involved. They were both thoroughly investigated, by the ICC as well, and totally exonerated.

Even the legendary Makhaya Ntini seems to have been allowed to get away with a one-sided narrative. I’m sure in the early years of his international career there were days when he felt isolated and alone. But he has been unfair in his criticism of Cricket South Africa.

If it weren’t for Ali Bacher personally getting involved and organising proper legal representation for him, Ntini would have spent several years languishing in jail after being incorrectly found guilty of rape, and Proteas manager and team doctor Mohammed Moosajee has revealed the felicitations the great fast bowler received from CSA at the end of his career.

“What Makhaya said I think surprised every one of us because he was a beacon for every youngster. He was in the team with me for the last 8 years of his career and I never noticed him sitting alone. Many players ran from the ground back to the hotel. Many times when we went out to dinner, we would stick to our own, but there were also many other times when we would join the other guys.

“Even when his contract ended, he was paid an extra year of salary which had never happened before, and he was given a special benefit game at Moses Mabhida Stadium. He played his last game for South Africa in January 2011 and his CSA contract continued through to the next April and then he received another year after that,” Moosajee told an Ahmed Kathrada Foundation webinar on racism in cricket recently.

“I did not see him on his own, he always had other players around him, but we need to unpack the way he felt, we need like a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for cricket. I’m sure he felt isolated when he first came into the team because he was in the minority, international sport is very difficult and you feel nervous about where you fit in. It was probably the same for Hashim Amla, but once the colour of the team and the administration changed then a lot of that went away,” Moosajee added.

Doc Moosajee, who has been a great servant of the game, went on to slam those for whom power in cricket is like an aphrodisiac.

“It’s important to remember that a number of communities contributed to the struggle but unfortunately some selfish administrators are looking to create divisions now. We need to move away from the idea that you need to be Black African to have a role in transformation; all communities, including Whites, have a role. Driving only an Africanist agenda has become divisive.

“We can’t continue to pay lip-service to transformation after 26 years, we need tangible action. In terms of Affirmative Action, the question we need to ask is whether the policies have benefited us or promoted racism? There is no doubt it has become polarised. Grassroots is where the issue is and there’s no doubt that has not been addressed. The numbers game has created challenges,” Moosajee said.

Long-serving Proteas manager and doctor Mohammed Moosajee remembers being made to bat in fading light at Transvaal nets in the early days of unity and he says such biases still exist in South African cricket, calling for a sporting version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help the healing process.

Moosajee was a fine cricketer who captained the South African Cricket Board version of the SA Schools side and was 23 years old when Unity happened. And yet he never added to his seven first-class caps when the new dispensation arrived.

“In 1992 when Unity happened, I was in the prime of my career and part of Transvaal training. But us guys from the SACB clubs only got to bat once the light was going down and there’s no doubt we had to work much harder because there was inherent bias. I felt we maybe came back into international cricket too easily, we sacrificed too much to appease the politicians.

“We must understand that prejudice is still very much part and parcel of our country, some still remains and we can’t just wish it away. There is no trust nor healing in cricket and we desperately need our own TRC because cricket is just a microcosm and reflection of a racist society. And our coaches also need to be given a platform because they are the ones who need to foster Black excellence,” Moosajee said at a recent Ahmed Kathrada Foundation webinar on racism in cricket.

Moosajee, who is now serving on the South African Cricketers’ Association management board, was adamant, however, that the Cricket South Africa Board should not be allowed to get their grubby little mitts on the TRC process.

“I am encouraged by the Cricket for Social Justice programme but we mustn’t forget it was set up by the same CSA who have had a litany of governance issues, if you are having continuous problems in the boardroom then it will impact on the delivery of transformation. So what credibility do CSA have? I will support it if it is run independently and not by CSA, if there is to be any credibility then the current Board cannot be involved.

“The most important stakeholders in coming up with solutions are the players and CSA must ask themselves why a few months ago they were in court fighting against their own players? There are people on that Board lining their pockets with directors’ fees and not taking into account proper corporate governance. Who will police the police? The Board cannot judge themselves,” Moosajee said.

The longest-serving member of the Proteas staff (from 2003 to the end of last year’s World Cup) said South African cricket has nevertheless come a far way from those early days of unity.

“In 2003 when I was appointed team doctor some of the squad members were uncomfortable not having a White doctor, but it did not bother me at all because they had no choice but to develop that trust. And in my early days as manager – it happened overseas as well, specifically in England and Australia – officials would try and bypass me and go directly to the coach.

“But after our first culture camp in 2010 we developed an authentic, emotional identity because we considered our fractured past, our history and our diversity. We wanted to use the fact we were the most diverse team in the world as an advantage and it was no surprise in 2012 when we became the first team to be ranked number one across all formats,” Moosajee explained.

Part of that process has been educating people that some of their simplistic views needed to evolve from bigotry to tolerance.

“When we would go to India and people were called “Chillipips”, they needed to be educated; when we went to Bangladesh and the call-to-prayer happened and guys would ask why they are screaming, they needed to be educated, and that’s what we tried to do from 2010 onwards. Culture is probably the most misunderstood part of any organisation but it can be the deciding factor in success or failure.

“But we also need to be honest. With a number of coaches and selectors, the challenge is an unconscious bias, but CSA also needed to stand up and take responsibility for things like the 2015 World Cup and four players of colour, because they left a lot to interpretation. Players of colour continue to feel unsupported and we need to applaud someone like Lungi Ngidi, a champion young man who showed awareness and spoke out,” Moosajee said.